Division signs, more formally / SUN 1-11-26 / Modern social media craze / Compound that ripens bananas / Bygone carrier that had a fleet of "Clippers" / Two-time capital of the Mughal Empire / Game on some kids' menus / Prank of doorbell ringing and running / Debaters who use deceptive arguments / Identifies digitally? / Mushroom often added to cream sauces / Classical Greek precinct with a noted oracle / Beast domesticated by the Incas

Constructor: Dylan Schiff

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "It's All Greek" — a "PHI" (ϕ) rebus where the letters "PHI" work in one direction and in the other direction, both the letter "I" and letter "O" are required to make sense of the answer—the "PHI"-containing word must be read twice, first with an "I" and then with an "O" (because the Greek letter PHI (ϕ) looks like "an 'I' atop an 'O'") (107D: Greek letter that resembles an "I" atop an "O" = PHI).

Theme answers:

• PING-[PONG] PADDLE / AMPHIBIA (22A: Article of sports equipment that typically has two rubber sheets of different colors / 2D: Class with frogs)
• CRISS-[CROSS] PUZZLE / DELPHI (32A: Game on some kids' menus / 20D: Classical Greek precinct with a noted oracle)
• DING-[DONG] DITCH / SAPPHIRE (38D: Prank of doorbell ringing and running / 46A: Birthstone before opal)
• TIP-[TOP] SHAPE / SOPHIA (50D: Perfect condition / 56A: Oscar-winning actress Loren)
• TIK-[TOK] DANCE / APHID (41D: Modern social media craze / 51A: Ladybug's prey)
• SING-[SONG] VOICE / SOPHISTS (43D: Melodic way of speaking / 53A: Debaters who use deceptive arguments)
• FLIP-[FLOP] SANDALS / PHILBIN (97A: Beachy footwear / 99D: Longtime TV personality Regis)
• HIP-[HOP] ARTISTS / DOLPHIN (111A: Tupac and Eminem, for two / 92D: Intelligent sea mammal)

Word of the Day: OBELI (26A: Division signs, more formally) —

An obelus (plural: obeluses or obeli) is a historical annotation mark in codicology that has come to have three distinct modern forms, meanings and typographical uses:

• Division sign ÷
• Dagger †
• Commercial minus sign ⁒ (limited geographical area of use)

The word "obelus" comes from ὀβελός (obelós), the Ancient Greek word for a sharpened stick, spit, or pointed pillar. This is the same root as that of the word 'obelisk'. In codicology, a (usually horizontal) obelus in the form of a dagger was used to indicate erroneous or dubious content. The third symbol is an obsolescent mark used in some European countries

In mathematics, the ÷ symbol is mainly used in Anglophone countries to represent the mathematical operation of division (but has other meanings elsewhere) and is called an obelus in older textbooks. In modern typography, the second symbol, called a dagger mark † is used as a reference mark or footnote indicator. It also has other uses in a variety of specialist contexts. (wikipedia)

• • •

***THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU*** Today is the last day of my annual week-long pitch for financial contributions to the blog. This week has been delightful, if a bit overwhelming. I'm frankly at a bit of a loss for words. I've written and torn out these first few sentences over and over, trying to find a way to express how much I appreciate your support. I have been doing this—writing this blog—for twenty (20!) years as of this September. It is so tightly woven into the fabric of my life that I rarely think about what I'm doing, or why. I just do it. It's ... what I do. As regular a part of my day as brushing my teeth. But it takes a lot more time than brushing my teeth. I would not get up at 4am every day just to brush my teeth. But I do get up at 4am to write this blog, no matter what, rain/shine (or, where, I live, more like gray/grayer). Which brings me back to this question of "Why?" I know that part of it is pure obsession, genuine enthusiasm, a love for crosswords and (I hope you can tell) a love for writing. But a big part of it is you. I have a sense of obligation to a large and loyal audience who expect the blog to be there for them every morning, or every Sunday, or every time they get stuck. The obligation isn't onerous. Frankly, it's a privilege. I feel like I conjured you all out of thin air by some miraculous stroke of luck and every year I half expect that you'll just ... poof, disappear, gone as quickly as you arrived. This week, however—there you are, all at once, many of you offering messages of support and encouragement, or sharing your crossword-solving lives with me and telling me how much the blog is part of your routine.  

Look at that! I'm outranked only by "take pills"! Seems reasonable! This is the week when I really feel the broader blog-reading community most strongly, and if I had to give one reason why I keep writing every day—beyond habit, inertia, mania, etc.—it's community. You all make me feel like I'm part of something special. And as I begin to contemplate both retirement (from my day job) and relocation (not now, but not long from now either), your annual financial support of the work I do here means more and more to me. I can only say what I've said many times by now: thank you.

The first of the thank-you cards are already in the mail (they arrived from the printer earlier this week looking perfect):

[illustration by Katie Kosma]

If you were able to contribute this year, that is thrilling to me, but if you weren't able, that's also OK. Money is tight for many and you can only manage what you can manage. This blog is free to anyone who wants it or needs it, whether you are a financial backer or not. I just want you to keep solving and keep reading. Thanks for taking the time to pay attention to any of this. One last time, here are the various ways you can contribute (now, or at any time during the year). 

There's Paypal:

There's Venmo: @MichaelDavidSharp (the last four digits of my phone are 4878, in case Venmo asks you, which it apparently does sometimes)

And if you want one of the film noir-inspired postcards, there's the actual mail (you can make checks payable to either "Michael Sharp” or “Rex Parker"): 

Rex Parker c/o Michael Sharp

54 Matthews St.

Binghamton, NY 13905 

All this contact information lives full-time in the sidebar of my website and at the bottom of every post, in case you feel inclined to contribute months from now :) 

OK. That's it. To all my readers (and my hate-readers)—welcome to another year of this here blog. I'm so grateful for your company. Now buckle up. Let's go.

• • •

Truth be told, I found this one a little boring. My feelings about it were three-star, but the commitment to the PHI bit was so total, so wall-to-wall, so ornate, that I had to give it a grudging little bump. I don't much care for picture-based puzzles, since they add nothing to to the solving experience, but the architecture of today's grid—with its depiction of a giant black-square PHI / ϕ actually makes the grid kind of interesting to navigate. Creates these weird little pockets in the center of the grid, one just to each side. I liked those. I also liked the attempt to make the theme execution somewhat orderly, with the ϕ  (I/O) being part of the Across themers at the top and bottom of the grid, but part of the Down themers in the middle. Something about the way those four Down themers line up in a row like that, one in each of the four chunks of white space in the middle of the grid, seemed very neat, tidy, orderly. Also, the idea that you have to repeat the word to make sense of the answer (once with the "I," once with the "O") is a bit of genius. Architecturally, it is impressive. Solving it was a bit monotonous (all ϕ, all day long), but the execution was nonetheless impressive.

Do you think this puzzle needed a revealer? It struck me as completely anticlimactic and unnecessary, but I guess it does go some ways toward explaining the theme concept, which might have been unclear. Or maybe people found the revealer first and the clue helped them decipher the theme concept. I don't know. All I know is I'd been writing "PHI" into squares over and over and then got to a revealer that had nothing to say to me but "PHI"! Yeah, PHI, I know, PHI, I've been writing PHI, I see the big PHI symbol depicted in the grid, stop saying "PHI!" Is it PHI Day? Oh, wait ... is PHI a secret wink to crossword tournament-goers, a subtle celebration of the fact that the American Crossword Tournament (ACPT) is moving to PHI-ladelphia in 2027? Tragically, my wife and I did not register for this year's tournament right away and registration is already closed (!?). Guess we won't get to defend our Pairs title. Oh well, we'll just have to wait for 2027, when we can be the first PHI-ladelphia champions.

Figuring out the theme gimmick today was probably the hardest part of today's puzzle, and for me it wasn't that hard. Had the gist of it before I ever got out of the NW, though weirdly didn't get the rationale for the "I"/"O" thing until several themers later. Hilarious to look at the grid and (eventually) see a giant PHI (ϕ) staring at me. Like "hey, dummy, it's me, ϕ, the key to understanding the puzzle, hiding in plain sight!" But not fully understanding the ϕ part at first didn't impede my actually solving. I flailed around the NW a bit trying to grasp that first theme square, which was slippery as a bar of soap thanks to the weird-word team of AMPHIBIA and OBELI. But after I made it out of there, very few answers gave me trouble. I have no idea what songs Flo Rida ever sang. I thought maybe he tried "just a little." But no, apparently he cries (77A: Flo Rida title sung before the words "just a little" = "I CRY"). I have no idea what ETHENE is (84A: Compound that ripens bananas). I definitely had ETHANE in there for a while. In that same section, I thought maybe 48D: Identifies digitally? was pointing TO rather than pointing AT somebody (POINTS AT). I never see the word CONTES unless it's on the cover of a book of French short stories, so that answer was a little tough, as clued (95D: Short adventure tales). But I've got hardly any green ink on my puzzle print-out, which means genuine trouble spots were almost non-existent.

Bullets:

• 16A: Bygone carrier that had a fleet of "Clippers" (PAN AM) — these were apparently flying boats (!?). Did regular passengers actually fly on these? Looks like, yes, they were some sort of luxury option (??).

The Boeing 314 Clipper was an American long-range flying boat produced by Boeing from 1938 to 1941. One of the largest aircraft of its time, it had the range to cross the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. For its wing, Boeing re-used the design from the earlier XB-15 bomber prototype. Twelve Clippers were built, nine of which served with Pan Am. It was the first aircraft to carry a sitting American president, when in 1943 Franklin D. Roosevelt flew from Miami to the Casablanca Conference in Morocco, via Trinidad, Brazil, and The Gambia. (wikipedia)

• 53A: Debaters who use deceptive arguments (SOPHISTS) — one of the things that made the grid interesting today was all the "PHI"-containing words. SOPHISTS and SAPPHIREs and DOLPHINs etc. The "I"/"O" answers are flashier, of course, but I'm surprised how solid and (relatively) colorful all the "PHI" words are. 
• 70A: Two-time capital of the Mughal Empire (DELHI) — my brain short-circuited here and instead of selecting a "Mughal"-appropriate place, it just started cycling in familiar five-letter cities. My first thought was CAIRO (!?). I think I also considered DUBAI at one point. Bizarre.
• 91A: Bit of entertainment for a morning commute, maybe (PODCAST) — true enough, I suppose, but this was a little hard for me, as I don't have a much of a "morning commute," don't usually listen to PODCASTs in the mornings, and don't really think of PODCASTs as "entertainment." Of course they are, but my brain has categorized them as "informational" more than "entertaining."
• 13D: Mushroom often added to cream sauces (MOREL) — crossword mushroom protip: it's MOREL or ENOKI. If you've got a five-letter mushroom on your hands, it's a MOREL or an ENOKI. And since "cream sauces" seem more French than Japanese ... MOREL.
• 103A: "I'm fine, but thanks anyway!" ("OH, THAT'S OK!") — really stretching the "OH" limits here. Are we just adding "OH" to the beginning of any expression? OH HI, OH YES, OH SURE, OH GIVE ME A BREAK, OH YOU MUST BE KIDDING, where does it end!? I'm not actually that mad at this answer, since I can definitely hear someone (me?) saying this phrase. I just want to raise "OH" proliferation as a matter of potential public concern. I'm raising awareness here. Let's all just keep an eye on it.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
❤️ Support this blog ❤️: 

• Venmo (@MichaelDavidSharp)]
• Mailing address: Rex Parker c/o Michael Sharp, 54 Matthews St., Binghamton, NY 13905

=============================
✏️ Upcoming Crossword Tournaments ✏️

• American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (Stamford, CT, Apr. 10-12, 2026) (registration closed!)

=============================
📘 My other blog 📘:

• Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)

Read more...

German cathedral city, to locals / SAT 1-10-26 / Mars comes third in it / Poles can be found next to them / Gay man, per historical slang inspired by Judy Garland / Loyal to a drastic extent / The kelpie of Celtic mythology / Andrew ___, banking tycoon who served as Treasury secretary from 1921 to 1932 / Kauai keepsake / Art form featuring performers in kishin (demon) and okina (old man) masks / Gemstone with gold-yellow bands

Constructor: Kameron Austin Collins

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: Ludwig Mies van der ROHE (36D: Architect Ludwig Mies van der ___) —

[Farnsworth House, Plano, IL]

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (/miːs ... roʊ/ MEESS-...-ROH; German: [ˈluːtvɪç ˈmiːs fan deːɐ̯ ˈʁoːə]; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886 – August 17, 1969) was a German and American architect, academic, and interior designer. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of modern architecture.

In the 1930s, Mies was the last director of the Bauhaus, a ground-breaking school of modernist art, design and architecture in Germany. After Nazism's rise to power, due to its strong opposition to modernism, he emigrated to the United States in 1937 or 1938. He accepted the position to head the architecture school at what is today the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).

Mies sought to establish his own particular architectural style that could represent modern times. His buildings made use of modern materials such as industrial steel and plate glass to define interior spaces. He is often associated with his fondness for the aphorisms "less is more" and "God is in the details".

• • •

***ATTENTION: READERS AND FELLOW SOLVERS*** : It's early January, which means it's time once again for my annual week-long pitch for financial contributions to the blog. Every year I ask readers to consider what the blog is worth to them on an annual basis and give accordingly. 2026 is a big year for me, as Rex Parker Solves the NYT Crossword will celebrate its 20th birthday in September. Two decades. The big 2-0. A score of years. One score and no years ago, I brought forth on this Internet a new blog, conceived in ... I think I'll stop there, but you get the idea. I've been at this a long time, and while it has been my privilege and joy, it has also been (and continues to be) a lot of work. Very early mornings, no days off—well, no days off for the blog. I do have two very able regular subs (Mali and Clare) who write for me once a month, as well as a handful of other folks who stand in for me when I go on vacation. But otherwise, it's just me, every dang day, up by 4am, solving and writing. I've never been this disciplined about anything in my life. Ask anyone. "Is he disciplined about anything else?" "No, he is not. Just this one thing. It's weird." And it's because I have a responsibility to an audience (that's you). Even after nearly 20 years, I'm still genuinely stunned and exceedingly grateful that so many of you have made the blog a part of your daily routine. Ideally, it adds a little value to the solving experience. Teaches you something you didn't know, or helps you look at crosswords in a new way, or makes you laugh (my highest goal, frankly). Or maybe the blog simply offers a feeling of commiseration—a familiar voice confirming that yes, that clue was terrible, or yes, that themer set should have been tighter, or wow, yes, that answer was indeed beautiful. Whether you find it informative or comforting or entertaining or infuriating—or all of the above—if you're reading me on a fairly regular basis, there's something valuable you're getting out of the blog. And I couldn't be happier about that.

["That's upside-down, sweetheart"]

Hopefully by now you can tell that for better or worse, what you get from me is my honest, unvarnished feelings about a puzzle. There's an explanatory element too, sure, but this blog is basically one person's solving diary. Idiosyncratic. Personal. Human. I'm not interested in trying to guess consensus opinion. I'll leave that to A.I. All I can do, all I want to do, is tell you exactly what it was like for me to solve the puzzle—what I thought, what I felt. Because while solving may seem like mere box-filling to outsiders, crossword enthusiasts know that the puzzle actually makes us feel things—joy, anguish, confusion (confusion's a feeling, right?). Our feelings might not always be rational, but dammit, they're ours, and they're worth having. And sharing. I love that crosswords engage the messy, human side of you, as well as the objective, solution-oriented side. If I just wanted to fill in boxes, without any of the messy human stuff, I'd solve sudoku (no shade, sudoku fans, they're just not for me!).

[conferring w/ my editor]

Over the years, I have received all kinds of advice about "monetizing" the blog, invitations to turn it into a subscription-type deal à la Substack or Patreon. And maybe I'd make more money that way, I don't know, but that sort of thing has never felt right for me. And honestly, does anyone really need yet another subscription to manage? As I've said in years past, I like being out here on this super old-school blogging platform, just giving it away for free and relying on conscientious addicts like yourselves to pay me what you think the blog's worth. It's just nicer that way. How much should you give? Whatever you think the blog is worth to you on a yearly basis. Whatever that amount is is fantastic. Some people refuse to pay for what they can get for free. Others just don't have money to spare. All are welcome to read the blog—the site will always be open and free. But if you are able to express your appreciation monetarily, here are three options. First, a Paypal button (which you can also find in the blog sidebar on the homepage, as well as at the bottom of every write-up):

Second, a mailing address (checks can be made out to "Michael Sharp" or "Rex Parker") (be sure to date them with the new year, 2026!):

Rex Parker c/o Michael Sharp
54 Matthews St
Binghamton, NY 13905

The third, increasingly popular option is Venmo; if that's your preferred way of moving money around, my handle is @MichaelDavidSharp (the last four digits of my phone are 4878, in case Venmo asks you, which I guess it does sometimes, when it's not trying to push crypto on you, what the hell?!)

All Paypal contributions will be gratefully acknowledged by email. All Venmo contributions will get a little heart emoji, at a minimum :) All snail mail contributions will be gratefully acknowledged with hand-written postcards. I know snail mail is a hassle for most people, but I love it. I love seeing your (mostly) gorgeous handwriting and then sending you my (completely) awful handwriting. The human touch—it's nice. In recent years, my daughter has designed my annual postcards, but this year, grad school and NYC theater work are keeping her otherwise occupied, so I had to seek design help elsewhere. Enter Katie Kosma, who is not only a professional illustrator/designer, but (crucially!) a crossword enthusiast. She listened patiently to my long and disorganized list of ideas and in very short order was able to arrive at this year's design, inspired by film noir title cards. 

I'm very happy with how it turned out. The teeny boxes inside the letters, the copyright credit ("Natick Pictures, Inc."), and especially that pencil lamppost—mwah! I know most people solve online now, and many paper solvers prefer pen, but the pencil just feels iconic, and appropriate for the card's throwback vibe. That lamppost was entirely Katie's creation. She was a dream to work with. Can't say enough good things about her.

Please note: I don't keep a "mailing list" and don't share my contributor info with anyone. And if you give by snail mail and (for some reason) don't want a thank-you card, just indicate "NO CARD." 

Again, as ever, I'm so grateful for your readership. Please know that your support means a lot to me and my family. Now on to today's puzzle... 

• • •

Very excited to see KAC's name on the byline because I know he can turn the heat up. It's Saturday, I need the heat turned up. As you know, the overall softening of the NYTXW difficulty level, across the board, has been a source of ongoing annoyance to me. Hurray for general accessibility, but in the late-week puzzles can you please tighten the screws a little! Saturdays are for suffering! Anyway, I have some familiarity with Kam's work (both here and at the New Yorker), and I know he can throw hard, so I was excited. And it turns out, my excitement was warranted. The puzzle really wasn't that tough, but it had enough fight to make it interesting, and more than enough ZIP, which is ultimately the point. I've done grueling puzzles that had zero ZIP. None. ZIPless. But this thing ... this thing goes places. All over the map. To the Czech Republic, for instance, for one of the better clues of the day (41D: Poles can be found next to them). And to Japan, for the full NOH THEATER (we usually just see NOH—not as exciting) (55A: Art form featuring performers in kishin (demon) and okina (old man) masks). We go to Germany for that city I know but couldn't confidently spell (KÖLN—we spell it "Cologne"). But the most important trip this puzzle took went straight to Oz. The way my face and heart lit up when I plunked down FRIEND OF DOROTHY! (8D: Gay man, per historical slang inspired by Judy Garland). I believe the words "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!" came out of my mouth as I went to take this screenshot:

[The second "garland" of the puzzle (see also LEI) (4D: Kauai keepsake)]

Increased acceptance of LGBTQ+ people has largely eradicated the need for euphemisms and code words, so I wonder if younger solver will ever have heard this expression, but I was so happy to be reminded of this "historical slang" (and happy to have lived long enough to see the "slang" become "historical"). Not sure where I learned the term FRIEND OF DOROTHY. I want to say Golden Girls, but that's just because Bea Arthur's character was named "Dorothy," I think (Bea Arthur—another gay icon). However I heard it, I heard it, and of all the things one might've called a gay man when I was younger, FRIEND OF DOROTHY (FOD!) was certainly among the nicest and most colorful. And it's a perfect grid-spanning 15 letters; I'm honestly surprised it hasn't been used before. But nope. It's a debut. Not All Debuts Are Good!™—but some sure as hell are. YOU LOOK FAB, FRIEND OF DOROTHY! 

["YOU LOOK FAB!!" + ATTACK MODE = "Fab Attack!"]

The only time this puzzle lost its ZIP was when it occasionally drifted into old-time crosswordese (RHEE, ROHE ... "Rhee-Rohe, Raggy!")

And then there's the "OH" doubling, which did make me say "Oh ... no." OH, CRUD, we've got another "OH" expression. In its defense, "OH, CRUD!" does make a nice yin to "OH, SNAP"s yang. And the two of them together pave the way for the NOH that's to come. OH, OH, NOH. Speaking of saying "OH!" ... ORGASMS! Not just one, a whole bunch. And with a cool literary clue (5D: Phenomena once known as "les petites morts" ("little deaths")). If you read (or teach!) literature, esp. pre-modern literature, then you are apt to run into this concept (the death / orgasm connection can be found all over the place). There is definitely stuff in this puzzle to frustrate or even annoy you, I suppose, but from where I was sitting, there was a lot more to love. I laughed out loud at my entree to the SW corner:

VITAL SIGNS and NOSE HAIR—two things I'm increasingly concerned about as I age (young men, I know you're probably worried about hair loss, but trust me, hair loss is fine: what you should be worried about is hair gain — in all the places you do not need or want it). NOSE HAIR—the battle is real! See also EAR HAIR (which no one talks about, but yikes). 

Bullets:

• 15A: The kelpie of Celtic mythology (WATER HORSE) — I think I'd like KELPIE in the grid a lot more than I like WATER HORSE. Are there other water horses? Is a WATER HORSE a phenomenon? Apparently. I guess the Loch Ness Monster (NESSIE!) is sometimes referred to as a WATER HORSE. I've never heard the term. When I got to TIGER EYE (which I'd also never heard of) (14D: Gemstone with gold-yellow bands), I thought/worried there might be some kind of animal theme going on.

• 18A: Sound made by a toaster? (TING!) — the "toaster" in this case is one making a toast (say, at a wedding). You know, you signal to the room that you're about to make a toast by striking your wine glass with ... silverware, probably. Although it's also possible that your kitchen toaster makes a TING! sound when the toast is done. Doesn't matter how you got to TING, only that you got there.
• 38A: Andrew ___, banking tycoon who served as Treasury secretary from 1921 to 1932 (MELLON) — I would like to take this moment to formally apologize to the MELLON Foundation for squandering my MELLON Dissertation Fellowship. I spent most of that year at the movie theater, or in used bookstores, amassing a rather large collection of vintage paperbacks, rather than in the library or at my desk. I mean, I'm not that sorry, I have an amazing paperback collection that gives me joy, and I saw a lot of cool movies. But I am a little sorry. Hey, I did finish my dissertation. Eventually.
• 46A: Volume units (SONES) — one of the few initial errors I made today. I went with TOMES at first. Then I had "AM TOO" (instead of "IS TOO") for the "playground retort" (still the lowest form of fill), which gave me MONES. I eventually remembered that SONES were a thing, but I know the term solely from crosswords (mostly crosswords of yore).
• 28D: Loyal to a drastic extent (RIDE-OR-DIE) — another wonderful, colorful colloquial entry. 

• 20A: Mars comes third in it (ANNÉE) — "Mars" = "March" in French, just as ANNÉE = "year." I thought I saw through this one when I wrote in ANNUM (Latin for "year"). While Mars is a Roman god, Mensis Martius is (apparently!) the Latin term for the month of March. It means "month of Mars." So I was close. Ish.

That's all for today. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. today's constructor, Kameron Austin Collins, was interviewed at length on Daniel Grinberg's crossword construction podcast "Crosstalk" (Episode 4). You can listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts.  

P.P.S. because it's my annual fundraising week, mail has begun to come in, and some of the notes are really lovely. You all have been so encouraging and supportive, which has been especially important in these bleak times (esp. during this very bleak week—shout out, Minneapolis). Thank you thank you thank you.

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
❤️ Support this blog ❤️: 

• Venmo (@MichaelDavidSharp)]

=============================
✏️ Upcoming Crossword Tournaments ✏️

• American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (Stamford, CT, Apr. 10-12, 2026) (registration opens January 8!)

=============================
📘 My other blog 📘:

• Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)

Read more...